acquiescence, even for some length of time to come, of those who are opposed to the emphasis it necessarily places upon worship and ceremonies and symbols and traditions, for the sake of the goal we are striving for. Thus, Zionists who do not or cannot pray, may observe a mass of ceremonies and traditions that are part of orthodoxy, because they see the need of maintaining the solidarity of the Jews in the one form which has been possible of maintenance for so many centuries.
But an orthodox Jew who is not a Zionist and who opposes Zionism, must be
prepared to receive and answer the criticism of orthodoxy as an individual religion, which Judaism never was nor can ever be until the national question is solved.
There is, therefore, but one course open to the present religious Jew who is interested in his co-religionists, in Judaism, and sympathizes with the misfortunes of his race. He must not only abandon reform Judaism, which undermines the Jewish national strength, but he must declare himself both an orthodox Jew and a Zionist.
MAX RAISIN'S VISIT TO NORDAU
Dr. Max Raisin, one of our comrades, visited Dr. Nordau a little time before the latter's sixtieth birthday was celebrated and has written a very interesting account of the interview he had with the venerable Zionist at his home. The interview was printed in the Jewish Exponent, of Philadelphia. After describing Dr. Nordau's workroom, Dr. Raisin says:
"I shall try and reproduce here a few of the expressions of which Nordau delivered himself to me. Very naturally, our conversation turned largely on the conditions in America, although we also touched on other topics. Nordau, who has never been to the United States, evinced very much interest in all that I told him about the different phases of our American Jewish life, and the many elements which to-day are at work in the upbuilding of this new breed known as American Judaism. He expressed himself very flatteringly of the future glories which our country is still to enjoy, but felt doubtful about the moral strength of the American people.
“I told him of the disagreeable conditions which obtain in the large American centers where the immigrant Jews live huddled together under frightful circumstances. I also expressed my belief and hope that the Ghetto in America was merely a transitional stage which the im-
migrant had to pass through before becoming fully acclimated and Americanized, and to this Nordau replied:
"No one could censure the hounded Jew of Russia and Roumania for choosing to make his initial home in America with those of his own people whom he knows best and loves best. Would you chide one who is starved! and freezing for seeking to draw near to some warm hearth where he will be more comfortable? To the immigrant, the Ghetto is the great fireplace where he can warm up his dry and numbed bones. He will feel happy only in sympathetic surroundings. The Ghetto contains an atmosphere of cheer and warmth which beckons to the Jew and luringly invites him to become one of the great throng consisting of his own congenial fellow-sufferers. No, we certainly have no right to upbraid these unfortunates for seeking refuge and safety with their own kin. We would rather sympathize with them and even approve of their action.
“Besides, has it not been proved beyond all contradiction that the Jew, whoever he may be, is confined to the Ghetto, be it a material or a moral one? Do not the rich and socalled aristocratic Jews live in a Ghetto of their own? They that would emerge from that imaginary shame-spot, are they not flung back into it by
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